Lost Cause II
by Totoromo
Summary: Sequel to Lost Cause. Grimmjow has fallen in love with Ichigo, but Ichigo is already very taken by Shuuhei. ShuuheixIchigo, GrimmIchi?, GrimmIchiShuuhei?, Grimm?, guess you'll have to find out. Romantic, some angst, some drama, some humor.
1. Costume Party

**Title:** Lost Cause II

**Fandom:** Bleach

**Rating:** M. Language, violence, sexual situations, sex. Lemon.

**Description: **Sequel to Lost Cause. Grimmjow has fallen in love with Ichigo, but Ichigo is already very taken by Shuuhei. ShuuheixIchigo, GrimmIchi?, GrimmIchiShuuhei?, Grimm?, guess you'll have to find out. Romantic, some angst, some drama, some humor.

**Disclaimer:** Bleach is created and owned by Tite Kubo, I merely pay homage to characters and a story I love.

_A/N: Here is goes again! You can read this without reading Lost Cause, I'll try to cover the previous plot points, but if you want more details I suggest you read the original._

**Costume Party**

**

* * *

**

"Good lord, another costume party?" Byakuya said, looking over the invitation.

"You didn't dress up last year," Renji accused.

"I don't dress up_ any _year."

"Any year but this year."

"I'd like to see how you're going to fail to convince me to dress up," Byakuya said.

"Samurai armor," Renji said, getting an idea. "The...er...respectable, right?"

"I don't 'dress up' this way."

"You dress up for me," Renji smiled.

"How about I promise to dress up for you but not for the party?"

"It better be something nice," Renji told him, biting his lover's ear.

"Of course," Byakuya said, secretly wondering what in the world he'd find to wear. He wondered when he'd be able to slip off to the world of the living for some shopping. As much as Ichigo annoyed him they would sometimes go shopping together and the two had been embarrassed and yet intrigued by a small shop that they had visited together.

"_Where do you suppose that's supposed to go?" Ichigo had asked wide eyed._

"_No where on or in my body," Byakuya had answered with a shudder._

"_The spikes are actually surprisingly soft," the shopkeeper has assured them._

"_I dare you," Ichigo said to Byakuya._

"_Like I care what you think."_

"_Uh huh," Ichigo picked it up. "I guess I'm just a little more experimental than you is all."_

_Byakuya's eyes had narrowed. "Oh yeah? I bet you I can convince Renji to...use...this instead of me. You couldn't do that with Shuuhei."_

"_Oh yeah?"_

_Both of their boyfriends had been very frightened._

_Ichigo had laughed when Shuuhei asked if he had done something to piss him off. Byakuya got a similar question from Renji but had simply answered "yes", much to Renji's confusion._

* * *

"Why?" Grimmjow asked.

"Fuck if I know," Kenpachi said. "I usually wear whatever the hell Yachiru forces me too."

"You're gonna be a zombie!" Yachiru said. "I got all this fun makeup to put on you."

"Yeah, sounds like fun," Kenpachi deadpanned.

"Makeup?" Grimmjow's eyebrows went up.

Kenpachi shrugged. "What, like the guy wearing blue eyeshadow or whatever the hell can point fingers."

"It's just my skin. It's just colored that way," Grimmjow growled.

"That's what Ikkaku has been trying to convince people of for years. Good luck with that," Kenpachi smiled.

"Fuck you."

"Your titties aren't big enough."

* * *

"He wore what?" Grimmjow almost dropped his drink.

"A red velvet corset over a tiny tight red vinyl skirt. He had on garters and fishnet thigh highs," Yumichika explained.

"What the hell was he supposed to be?"

"Well, he had horns and tail too. He was a devil," Ikkaku said. "Ichigo was just trying to get Shuuhei's attention though. It definitely worked."

"You think he'll wear something like that tonight?" Grimmjow said with a grin.

"You wish," Ikkaku laughed.

"How's being in the 11th working out?" a voice from behind the trio said. They all whirled around, because if there's one person you don't want behind your back it's Captain Kurotsuchi.

"Fine," Grimmjow said. "I'm being a good little boy."

"No crazy impulses to wipe out a bunch of shinigami or anything?" Kurotsuchi offered hopefully.

"Go poison someone else," Grimmjow said. "You can't do anything to me."

"Well, not legally."

"Not at all," Kenpachi said, walking out from the corner.

"Wow, Yachiru is really good," Ikkaku said.

Yumichika nodded.

"Whadda mean? He just looks like a dead guy," said Grimmjow.

"That's what zombies are," Ikkaku explained.

"Oh. Good job then."

"Mayuri, piss off," Kenpachi told the man.

Mayuri was already turning to leave.

"And what are you?" Grimmjow asked Yachiru, who was hanging on Kenpachi's back.

"Cupid!" Yachiru chirped. "Who do you want me to make fall in love with you, Kenny?"

Kenpachi paled slightly. "I really hope that's not why you wore that outfit."

"I'll got find someone!" Yachiru said, running off.

"That's gonna be trouble," Kenpachi muttered to himself. "I better get drunk before I have to think about it."

"Here here!" Ikkaku raised his glass.

Grimmjow grinned and drank his drink as well. "Oh hey, some fun arrived," he told the group, moving off.

"Hey Shuuhei," he greeted the man. "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

"I'm a rock star," Shuuhei told him.

"Well, at least you're wearing tight pants so I can see your ass," Grimmjow said provokingly.

"Nice skirt," Shuuhei replied to his rival.

"Yeah, I like it myself," Grimmjow didn't bother to get offended. "I'm supposed to be a Roman...Roman...gladiator I think...something like that."

"Whatever. You just didn't want to wear a shirt."

"Shirts are overrated. I like your fancy net one though. It kind of makes you look like a whore but I suppose that's what happens when you riffle through your mom's closet," Grimmjow said with a grin.

"I don't know, Ichigo likes when I look like a whore sometimes."

Grimmjow didn't have a reply to that, he just glared at the man. Shuuhei smiled back.

"Hey guys," Ichigo said, walking up to them. "Sorry I'm late. Paperwork," he explained.

Grimmjow's eyes were glued to him. Out of all the outfits he could have worn, he really had to pick that one? Grimmjow wasn't sure if Ichigo was supposed to be a tiger or an orange striped cat but he was wearing a skin tight catsuit that was bright orange with black stripes. He had a pair of cat ears on his head and a long tail. From the angle he was standing at, Grimmjow could perfectly see the definition of Ichigo's thighs and ass as the body clinging fabric didn't leave a lot to the imagination.

That's it, he's getting it this time, Grimmjow thought, feeling the roar of blood in his ears. He moved forward. He felt a pair of arms around his shoulders pulling him away.

"What the fuck?" he asked, seeing that it was just Ikkaku and Yumichika. He tried to turn around to face Ichigo again.

"No!" Yumichika said firmly.

Grimmjow was getting a little mad. Sure he had to be on his best behavior or be pumped full of whatever the hell Kurotsuchi came up with but he just claim he was drunk or something when he pounded Shuuhei into the ground and ran off with Ichigo.

"You're not thinking," Ikkaku to him.

"Of course I ain't," Grimmjow had gone from angry to horny in nothing flat and there was nothing the two of them were going to do that was gonna... "Mmm," Grimmjow said, wrapping his hands around Yumichika as the smaller man pulled him into a searing kiss. He didn't let go even when Yumichika pulled away.

"Yeah, alright, we talk about this shit beforehand," Ikkaku said, his hands on the two of them, ready to pull them apart.

"Oh come on, Ikkaku, he's clearly in a time of need," Yumichika said.

Grimmjow was enjoying Yumichika's maid outfit and took the chance to run his hand up the back of Yumichika's shirt.

"Fucking stop that for a second," Ikkaku growled at Grimmjow. He looked at Yumichika. "We have to work with him, it's different than picking up some guy at a bar or whatever."

"Uh huh, what about Rangiku?"

"That was a one time thing. Plus, it's Rangiku," Ikkaku offered by way of explanation.

"Remember that one thing that I said I would never do again?" Yumichika said.

"Which..." Ikkaku was thinking back. Realization dawned on him. "Really?"

"I'll do it twice."

Ikkaku grinned.

"Can we please go before I fuck someone into a wall?" Grimmjow growled. He could still hear Ichigo talking and laughing behind him.

"Yeah, fine," Ikkaku said. "But you fucking be careful with him."

The three left.

"Hey, where did Grimmjow go?" Ichigo asked Rukia.

"Uh, well he was gonna rape you so Yumichika and Ikkaku intervened and carted him off someplace," she explained.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "He's not that bad."

"No, I'd say she gave a pretty accurate description," Yoruichi assured him.

Shuuhei just stared into his drink. It was either stare at his drink, be pissed off at Grimmjow, or stare at Ichigo's ass. Considering he knew Ichigo would want to at least say hi to everyone, the drink seemed like the best option. Of course Ichigo had to tease him about his neko fetish and wear a fucking cat costume. Shuuhei tried to think of math or something dull. Exactly why did I wear tight pants again? He wondered. Ichigo brushed his check with one of his ears.

"Fuck," Shuuhei said.

"I'll only torture you an hour, then you can take me home," Ichigo whispered to him.

Rukia was laughing behind her hand.

"I wonder where Renji is?" Ichigo asked innocently, as if he hadn't just been teasing his boyfriend.

* * *

"We're not going," Byakuya said.

"There's nothing wrong with what I'm wearing," Renji replied. "This is how boxers in the world of the living dress."

"Put a shirt on. Don't boxers have robes?" Byakuya recalled seeing something from one of Renji's magazines.

"I didn't get one. What's the problem?" Renji said.

"The problem is this," Byakuya pointed at the v of tattoos that went down the low slung shorts, along the lines of muscle.

"So?"

"No one can look at that and not be curious at to how far down those go."

"I think you're overrating my charm," Renji grinned. "I can't believe you're jealous."

"Besides, those are only barely clinging to your hips. What if the knot were to slip?"

"The tie is fine," Renji assured him.

Byakuya pulled at it, and Renji's pants began to slide down. He quickly grabbed them before they went too low.

"You're not wearing any undergarments," Byakuya said with a low voice.

"Um, well," Renji tried to explain.

Byakuya's mouth was on his suddenly. Renji wrapped his hands around his ex-captain's head, forgetting about his shorts. "Shit!" he cursed, trying to grab them. Byakuya quickly grabbed his hands and they fell, exposing Renji.

"Fuck, we're just out here in the open, Byakuya," Renji said.

Byakuya pushed him backwards back into the Squad 5 office. He knew Ichigo was long gone.

Renji not so secretly loved when Byakuya got angry and pushy. In fact, he kind of had a feeling his outfit might not meet with his lover's approval. Byakuya had always refused to do anything aside from briefly kissing in his office, but it had always been a fantasy of Renji's. He smiled to himself as Byakuya locked the door behind them. I wonder how I'll explain why I have lube in my desk drawer? Renji pondered.

* * *

Grimmjow was holding a sleeping Yumichika tightly to his chest.

"You're going to have to let him go," Ikkaku told him.

Grimmjow looked at Yumichika and loosened his grip.

"Naw, I meant Ichigo. Even if he weren't with Shuuhei he'd be pining over him. You didn't see him when they weren't together. That kid was dead set for Shuuhei and no one else," Ikkaku explained.

"I know, even when he was being tortured in Las Noches and delirious with pain he still would talk about the bastard," Grimmjow said quietly. "Things change though, people change. Maybe eventually Shuuhei will decide that he can't give up chicks after all, maybe I'll just be lucky and he'll catch a cold and die, maybe Ichigo will get a head injury and forget the dick and I can jump in."

"Yeah, all of those sound totally likely," Ikkaku laughed softly.

"You would never give up Yumichika. I see you guys together. It's like you were made for each other."

Ikkaku sighed. "You could at least stop being so antagonistic. If Shuuhei liked you then maybe you'd at least hang out with Ichigo more often. If nothing else, it's something you haven't tried yet."

Grimmjow grunted. "I should probably head back home to Kenpachi's. Supposedly I'm not supposed to stay out all night."

"He gave you a curfew?" Ikkaku laughed.

"He didn't. It's just the terms of my deal," Grimmjow said. "The Soul Society wants to keep tabs on me at all times."

"Sucks for you."

"Better than being locked up still, or dead."

Grimmjow moved to leave and Yumichika whined in his sleep a little. Ikkaku grabbed him and Yumichika was quiet again.

"You shinigami are so warm. It's still kind of weird to me."

"Yeah well your giant-ass hole is weird to me. Where the hell do you put your sake?" Ikkaku wondered.


	2. Poker

**Poker**

_A/N: I'm in the process of a long distance move, so there might be some delays in some of my fics. But yay! Finally got a job again! _

_

* * *

_

"Damn it," Kenpachi said as he and Grimmjow walked into the room. He turned to leave.

"Kenny! You promised you'd come to my party!" Yachiru whined.

"Look, this is obviously a Shinigami Women's Association thing," Kenpachi said.

"All the sake you can drink!" Rangiku offered.

Kenpachi and Grimmjow looked at each other. Kenpachi eventually shrugged and sat at the table set up in the middle of the room. Grimmjow followed him.

"So we're doing what, exactly?" Kenpachi asked.

"Hey guys!" Renji greeted them as he walked in. He looked around and the grin on his face faded. "Actually, I really need to be..."

Soifon grabbed his arm and shoved him in the direction of the table. "Sit!" she ordered him.

"You guys don't seem very happy," Grimmjow said.

"It's the SWA. Who knows what they're up to?" Renji groaned.

"There's a fourth seat," Kenpachi mentioned. "Who do you think it's for?"

"Ichigo," Grimmjow said with a grin.

"No, Ichigo is too smart," Yachiru chimed in, with a small frown on her face. "He told me I was crazy if I thought he was stupid enough to fall for anymore of the women's association's tricks."

"Well, obviously we weren't," Renji sighed.

"I'm not staying," Grimmjow said, standing up. Yachiru made a face at him. He ignored her.

Nemu walked up to him. "May I see you outside for a moment?"

Grimmjow had never talked to the woman before, but he found himself mildly interested simply because he couldn't think of a thing she could say to him that would change his mind.

"I have three things I will give to you if you stay," Nemu said, turning and facing him once they were in a small garden.

"What makes you think I want them?" Grimmjow asked.

She handed him a picture. It was Ichigo. His kimono was half removed, hanging off his waist, leaving him bare chested. He was leaning against a tree, clearly having fallen asleep after training hard because he was covered with a layer of glistening sweat, his body slightly smudged in places with blood and dirt, his hair wet looking and wild. His zanpakuto was set upright, laying against the tree next to Ichigo. Grimmjow's hand tightened around the picture and his heart started beating a little faster. As far as Grimmjow was concerned, it was the perfect picture of Ichigo. Well, he thought to himself with a smile, it would be even better if he was naked and sleeping in my bed. How the hell had she gotten the picture though? He looked up at the woman in front of him and growled. "What the fuck? Are you stalking him or something?"

She held up two more pictures, their images faced away from him.

"W-what are those?" Grimmjow asked.

"The last two costume parties Ichigo went too," Nemu answered.

Ichigo wore that cat outfit, Grimmjow thought. God that was hot. What was the other one? Oh yeah, it was some sort of red devil thing, skirt, corset and thigh highs. "Gimme," he said, hand out.

"Stick around and I'll give you the other two. We actually have more if you're interested," Nemu said.

Grimmjow frowned. "Seriously, are you stalking him?"

"The Shinigami Women's Association collects pictures of all people of interest in the Seireitei. And by people of interest I mean men that the association finds attractive," Nemu explained.

"No wonder everyone is a little skiddish around you guys," Grimmjow said, remembering how both Kenpachi and Renji had reacted when seeing the women.

"You'll stay?"

"Yeah," Grimmjow said. "Why not? Free booze, right?" The two walked back into the room holding the party. Grimmjow took a seat next to Kenpachi and didn't say anything. He grabbed a cup of sake and drained it.

"Rangiku, here's the papers that you wanted..." Shuuhei trailed off as everyone in the room looked at him. Rangiku quickly wrapped an arm around his waist. "No!" he told her. He was pushed into the final chair. "I'm not staying," he said.

"So what's the point of all of this?" Kenpachi asked.

"Strip poker!" Yoruichi sang out, accompanied by several cheers.

Renji and Shuuhei paled. "What's strip poker?" Grimmjow asked.

"You play a card game...actually I think you've played poker with Ikkaku and Yumichika before. Anyways, when you lose you have to take off a piece of clothing," Kenpachi explained.

"This isn't happening," Shuuhei said.

"Scared already?" Grimmjow laughed at him. "But I'm not even naked yet."

Shuuhei's eyes narrowed. Rangiku set a glass of sake in front of him. "Free alcohol!" she mentioned.

"You guys are really all going to do this? Get drunk and half naked while the SWA probably takes pictures of the whole thing to drool over later?" Shuuhei asked.

Kenpachi shrugged. Renji held out his sake glass with a smile. Grimmjow smirked at him. "Yeah. If you run away you'd be the only coward," Grimmjow pointed out.

"I'm a little surprised that Ichigo didn't warn you to not come," Renji said.

"He did tell me that the Shinigami Women's Association was up to something, but I didn't think that Rangiku would stoop so low as to make it seem like she was going to get in big trouble if I didn't get her some signed paperwork immediately," Shuuhei replied.

"You didn't think it was weird that she wanted you to bring it to the Kuchiki estate?" Renji asked.

"She said she was hanging out with Rukia when she remembered and that it would be faster if I gave it to her here," Shuuhei said with a sigh, sitting back down in the chair.

"So, you're playing?" Grimmjow asked him.

"Yeah," Shuuhei responded.

I'm not so stupid as to fall into some weird macho pride trap that Grimmjow is trying to pull off, Shuuhei assured himself. I just...Shuuhei couldn't quite justify it to himself. Sake, he came up with finally. I want free sake.

"Five card draw," Yoruichi said, tossing Kenpachi a deck of cards.

* * *

"It's no fair, everyone knows it's practically impossible to get Kenpachi drunk!" Renji argued. "Of course he's winning!"

"You're just saying that because you're too scared to take your pants off," Grimmjow laughed at him. In truth, he was slightly annoyed with Kenpachi for not having to remove anything yet. Kenpachi had taken off his haori since he felt it was little unfair to having more clothing than the others, but aside from that, he looked as usual, maybe just laughing a little harder. Everyone else had gotten wasted in short order, probably all having come to the conclusion that it was the least painful way out of the situation. Gesh, Grimmjow thought, these women are like piranhas, no, more like hyenas with their crazy laughter...taking pictures all the time. He drank some more sake, then stood up and took off his hakama. At least I wore underwear today, he thought to himself. He had been wearing the shihakusho for almost a year. While he like how loose fitting his arrancar uniform was, white really wasn't the best color to be wearing when you got covered in blood almost every day. He had taken to wearing his kimono top extreme loose and wide like his guardian/captain did. If Squad 11 had their way, Grimmjow imagined they'd run around practically naked all the time. Lounging around in his underwear in front of a bunch of crazed women was slightly different, but Grimmjow didn't really care.

He heard a plop next to him as Shuuhei threw his hakama over his shoulder and sat down.

Renji sighed and took off his hakama.

"Holy shit Red, how far down do those tattoos go?" Grimmjow exclaimed.

"Aw geez, you actually made him blush," Kenpachi laughed.

"Now just imagine how your boyfriend is going to react when he sees these pictures," Shuuhei said.

Renji groaned and quickly drank some more sake.

"Here's some snacks!" Yachiru put down a plate on the table.

"Fruit? Why the hell would we want fruit?" Kenpachi wondered out loud.

"I don't suppose you could feed it to each other?" Yoruichi suggested.

"No," three voices said. Kenpachi just glared at her.

"I don't mind fruit. Hey look, my favorite, strawberry," Grimmjow said, grabbing a particularly juicy looking one with a grin towards Shuuhei. He took a large bite of the fruit, allowing some of the juice to roll down his chin. "You know, Shuuhei..."

"Hey, wanna see a trick?" Renji jumped in. He might be drunk, but he still knew well enough to try and keep Grimmjow and Shuuhei from going at it.

"What?" Yachiru was interested.

Renji grabbed one of the cherries from the table and put it in his mouth. He concentrated for a second, and then spit out the seed at Grimmjow, who just barely dodged it.

"Hey, what the fuck!" Grimmjow yelled at him.

Shuuhei was laughing. "I have a trick I can do too," he said. He also grabbed a cherry and put the entire thing in his mouth. Grimmjow was ready to dodge when Shuuhei pulled out the cherry stem, tied into a knot.

"How the hell did you do that?" Grimmjow asked.

"You just have to have a nimble tongue," Shuuhei smirked at him. "Ichigo loves when I..."

"I love what?" Ichigo said, coming into the room. He frowned. "Alright, too many mostly naked men in a room."

"Not me," Kenpachi grinned.

"Kenny never loses!" Yachiru cheered.

"You know what, I don't even want to know. I'm just here to collect my boyfriend," Ichigo said. "Where are your pants?"

Shuuhei started to get dressed, while the women booed. Grimmjow stood up and stretched.

"You!" Ichigo pointed at him. "Get some clothes on!"

"Why?" Grimmjow asked, grinning widely, his eyes boring into Ichigo's own. "You can't tell me you don't like what you see."

Ichigo sighed. "I didn't want to have to do this," he said.

"Where did you get the hell butterfly?" Yoruichi asked, suddenly alert.

"Captain Kuchiki, it has comes to my attention that the Shinigami Women's Association is holding a party on the Kuchiki grounds again. Those attending are..." Ichigo was tackled from behind. "Rukia?" he asked. "Get off me!"

"Some one stop the butterfly!" Yoruichi yelled at the butterfly started fluttering away.

"I got it!" Soifon stated.

"Too bad it doesn't matter," came a calm voice from the back entrance to the room.

"EVERYONE OUT!" Isane yelled in a panicked voice. The women began to flee, aside from Yachiru, who merely perched on Kenpachi's shoulder.

"Thank you for your thought though, Ichigo Kurosaki," Byakuya said.

"Of course," Ichigo smiled at him. He looped an arm around Shuuhei, was who fully clothed (and who was thanking Ichigo from the bottom of his heart for making him get dressed before Byakuya Kuchiki showed up), and led him out of the room.

"Grab as much sake as you can," Kenpachi ordered Yachiru and Grimmjow. He paused. "Hey, can you use that hollow hole of yours for storage?"

"What the...hell no!" Grimmjow said.

"You sure? We could get a lot more sake that way."

"No," Grimmjow replied firmly.

Renji hadn't even bothered to look up. He would have buried his head in his hands if he wasn't so proud. "Uh...hi, Byakuya," Renji said, trying to give a charming smile.

"Come with me," Byakuya said, his eyes steely.

Renji got out of the chair and bent to get his clothing.

"Don't bother getting dressed," Byakuya told him.

"Uh..." Renji blinked. He wondered if this was going to be a very bad afternoon or a very good afternoon.

"Now," Byakuya ordered, looking behind him and not seeing Renji following him yet.

"Yes, Captain," Renji replied, momentarily forgetting he was no longer Byakuya's lieutenant. Byakuya didn't correct him.

* * *

"How did Rangiku even get here?" Grimmjow asked.

"She led us back to get the rest of the sake," Ikkaku replied, from where he was lounging in a corner.

"I hate how hot sake makes you feel. I feel all sweaty and sticky," Yumichika complained, sitting by an open window, trying to cool himself.

"You should lay off of Ichigo, Grimmjow," Kenpachi said.

"I'm a little surprised that you're not after him yourself," Grimmjow replied. "He seems your type."

"Naw, I don't like guys," Kenpachi responded.

"Don't see why not," Grimmjow said.

"The idea doesn't bother me or nothing," Kenpachi answered. "I just really like breasts."

Rangiku laughed in a corner. They all looked over at her. "What if Ichigo had boobs?" she giggled to herself. "Like really big..." she grabbed her own breasts.

Kenpachi laughed loudly.

"I got it!" Grimmjow exclaimed. "I know how to annoy the crap out of Shuuhei!"

"Don't you do that every damn day?" Kenpachi asked. Yachiru nodded.

"Yeah, but this is better. This is perfect. I'm going to flirt with him!" Grimmjow explained.

"Wha?" Rangiku said from the couch she was reclining on.

"Ichigo ain't stupid, he isn't going to fall for it if you try to break them up," Ikkaku told him.

"I don't mean to try and break them up, just to piss off Shuuhei," Grimmjow replied.

"And Ichigo isn't going to pick up on that?" Yumichika rolled his eyes.

"No, I'll just do it when Ichigo isn't around. Think about it, Shuuhei wouldn't mention it to Ichigo, Ichigo would just think he was crazy, right?" Grimmjow was getting into his idea now. He just imagine Shuuhei flustered looking and backing up as Grimmjow advanced on him.

"But Ichigo and Shuuhei are so cute together!" Rangiku said.

"Shut up," Grimmjow told her. "Besides, like I said, I already know I can't break them up. I know that if I did Ichigo would hate me anyways, it's not like he'd run to me. I don't want him all pissed off at me and miserable. I just want Shuuhei all pissed off at me and miserable."

"Such a bad idea," Yumichika groaned.

"Hopefully he'll pass out drunk and forget it in the morning," Ikkaku suggested.


	3. Flirting

**Flirting**

_A/N #1: Crap has been happening in my life, but rather than talk about it I'd like to congratulate my friend who came out at his 30th birthday party. It wasn't really a shock to those of us who knew him well, but I hope that finally coming to terms with himself will lead a happier life than he's led so far. 30 is later than 20, but at least he didn't wait until he was 40!_

_A/N #2: When is FF going to fix these crazy problems?__

* * *

_

Shuuhei was lost in paperwork when someone came through the door. He had left it open to try and let some air in. Kisuke had done something in his office that had filled the whole building with green smoke that smelled curiously of lavender. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, but the smoke stung Shuuhei's eyes. He hadn't even bothered to go in and check on his captain. If he stopped working to make sure Kisuke hadn't blown himself up every time there was a minor explosion in his office he'd never get anything done.

"Lavender?" Grimmjow said from just behind Shuuhei's ear. "A little feminine, eh?"

Shuuhei practically jumped at the sudden voice, but Grimmjow had his hands on his shoulders, holding him down.

"What are you doing?" Shuuhei asked, trying to crane around and look at Grimmjow.

"Nothing. You just almost got me in the face with your shoulder is all," Grimmjow said, although he didn't release his grip on Shuuhei.

"It was from one of Kisuke's experiments," Shuuhei explained.

"Hm," Grimmjow said. Shuuhei could feel him get close again as Grimmjow practically buried his face in Shuuhei's hair. "Yeah, you smell more like mint than lavender."

"Are you...smelling my hair?" Shuuhei asked, trying to not freak out. First of all, just because he was ok with Ichigo touching him, didn't mean he was ok with another man touching him. Second of all, that man happened to be Grimmjow, someone who Shuuhei tried to not hate but who definitely wasn't high on Shuuhei's list of people he liked. Honestly, even if Grimmjow was a woman the whole thing was kind of creepy, considering that Grimmjow's hands were now practically caressing Shuuhei's shoulders. Shuuhei shook Grimmjow's hands off of him and stood up, turning to face Grimmjow.

"Something wrong?" Grimmjow said with a wide grin.

"Why are you here?" Shuuhei questioned him, trying to not let Grimmjow's odd behavior get to him.

"You know, I always was a little confused as to why Ichigo would be so infatuated with you, but I suppose I'm beginning to...see the attraction," Grimmjow said ignoring the question, his voice a low purr.

"Stop being weird. Did you have a message from Captain Zaraki?"

"No. I just came to see you," Grimmjow said. As he spoke he approached Shuuhei, his bright blue eyes never leaving Shuuhei's smokey gray ones.

"Yeah, well you've seen me, so now you can go," Shuuhei replied.

Grimmjow wasn't stopping, still moving towards Shuuhei. Shuuhei unconsciously backed up, then cursed himself when he saw Grimmjow's eyes brighten when he did so. He felt the file cabinet behind him, but Grimmjow took another step, his body slightly pressing into Shuuhei's. Shuuhei was flat against the cabinets, looking up at Grimmjow with shock. Grimmjow placed his hands on either side of Shuuhei's head, preventing him from leaving or even being able to look away.

"There has to be a reason Ichigo likes to kiss you," Grimmjow said, moving his face close to Shuuhei, his lips millimeters away from Shuuhei's. Time slowed down as Shuuhei's panicky thoughts swirled around. He's not going to kiss me, is he? Shuuhei wondered with shock.

There was a loud bang and Grimmjow moved away. Kisuke came bolting out of his room, this time followed by another green cloud.

"Shuuhei, I need..." Kisuke stopped when he saw Grimmjow, who was still standing close to Shuuhei.

"I'll see you soon," Grimmjow said with a wave over his shoulder as he made his exit.

"Are you ok?" Kisuke asked, seeing Shuuhei's flushed face.

"YES!" Shuuhei yelled. Kisuke's eyes got wide but he didn't say anything. "Sorry," Shuuhei's apologized sheepishly. He was mad at himself for how he had handled Grimmjow. I should have hit him with a kido spell or something the second he started getting too close to me, Shuuhei thought. I was just stunned though. I'm still confused. What the hell, Grimmjow?

* * *

"You pressed him against the wall and practically kissed him?" Yumichika said in disbelief. "That is _not _flirting."

"Yeah it is," Ikkaku offered his opinion.

"And what, you would have just kissed him if Captain Urahara hadn't come in?" Yumichika asked.

"Maybe," Grimmjow said. "It was kind of fun. He didn't know what to do."

"Start smaller or he's going to know what you're up to," Yumichika said.

"I thought you didn't like this idea. Why are you helping him?" Ikkaku asked.

"Well, if he's going to do it he should at least do it right," Yumichika explained.

It was a couple of days later when Yumichika pointed out Shuuhei's walking form. "He's alone right now," Yumichika said. "Go and talk to him. And no touching yet!"

* * *

"Why are you upset again?" Ichigo asked.

"He's just been weird," Shuuhei told him.

"Grimmjow doesn't really have the same uh...boundaries...that we have."

"No, he was..." Shuuhei knew it was ridiculous of him to say it, but he wanted to say, "Grimmjow was hitting on me!"

There had been three separate times now that Grimmjow had just come up and talked to him. For no reason. Talking about anything. Shuuhei might consider that Grimmjow was just trying to be friendly (for whatever reason) but the looks he was giving Shuuhei, his body language, and most of all his constant compliments made every single conversation amazingly awkward for Shuuhei. He had to fight the urge to bolt whenever he saw Grimmjow approach him, not wanting to answer questions about how he had slept, or wonder how to take a comment about how long his eyelashes were. Grimmjow had even run his finger along Shuuhei's facial tattoo, in a eerily similar gesture to what Ichigo would commonly do.

"He's being creepy," Shuuhei said out loud.

"Better than just insulting you all the time though, right?" Ichigo pointed out.

Actually, no, Shuuhei thought to himself.

He was absolutely mortified when he arrived at his office one Wednesday and found flowers on his desk.

"Ah, how sweet, Ichigo sent you flowers," Kisuke said with a grin.

Shuuhei knew that Ichigo would never send him flowers, at least not to the office (Shuuhei secretly liked flowers but being sent them was _way _too girly for him). He looked at the small note that was with them. "They're...from Grimmjow," Shuuhei said with a slight choking noise.

"Someone probably told him that people send flowers to each other to apologize," Kisuke shrugged.

"Yeah, Grimmjow is exactly that type of person to apologize for being a jerk," Shuuhei said. "And why the hell would it be red roses?"

"The flower seller probably just talked him into it because they are more expensive."

Ichigo said similar things when Shuuhei brought them home. Shuuhei would have just thrown them out in the office trash but Kisuke convinced him that Ichigo might like them on their dining table so Shuuhei had reluctantly brought them home.

When he got the sake he didn't throw that out either, but that was just because it was high quality sake. He just stashed it in a desk drawer. I'll use it for when Grimmjow comes by and annoys the hell out of me, Shuuhei thought to himself. He tried to ignore the note that came with it. "I hope you enjoy this. Maybe we can share it over dinner sometime." He didn't even bother showing it to Ichigo, knowing he would just view it as a peace offering.

Grimmjow you asshole, I know you're up to something, Shuuhei thought. There's no way that all of sudden he's over Ichigo and totally in to me, and there's no way that I'm not reading the signals he's sending. Sure I was stupid about Ichigo liking me, but that's because we were best friends. It's different with an enemy.

Enemy? Do I still view Grimmjow as that? I suppose not really, Shuuhei had to concede. Rival though, definitely.

* * *

"This is fucking driving me crazy," Grimmjow complained. "It was more fun my way."

"I don't see why you don't just show him your released form," Ikkaku said.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

"What do you mean what? Why do you think Ichigo dressed up as a cat for the costume party?" Ikkaku continued.

"What are you getting at?"

"Come on. Shuuhei has a thing for cats," Ikkaku explained.

"He...seriously?" Grimmjow questioned.

"It's not that weird," Yumichika said. "Unlike Ikkaku who..."

Ikkaku was quick to silence his partner.

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow but didn't ask. He probably didn't want to know.

Shuuhei likes cats, huh? Grimmjow laughed darkly.

* * *

Shuuhei gasped as the blindfold went around his eyes. He immediately sensed Grimmjow and his hand went for his zanpakuto.

"Take it easy," Grimmjow said softly. "I'm taking you to a place where you can get all of that aggression out."

"What?" Shuuhei asked, turning to look towards Grimmjow even though he was blinded by the piece of cloth.

"I'm taking you to Captain Zaraki's training room. It's shielded there, no one will bother us," Grimmjow said.

Shuuhei reached up and yanked the blindfold off. "Why this then?" he asked, holding it out.

"Ah, just 'cuz it was fun," Grimmjow said. "I promise not to hurt you if that is what you're scared of."

"Who said I was scared?" Shuuhei replied. "I thought you weren't supposed to fight."

"I can't fight against shinigami, but I can spar," Grimmjow said. "Wanna spar with me?"

Is this really why he's been bothering me the last couple of weeks? Shuuhei wondered. Just to get me upset enough to do this? Or maybe he really thought he was getting on my good side, bribing me so that he could spar against me?

"Fine," Shuuhei agreed.

"One condition," Grimmjow said.

"What's that?"

"Don't tell Ichigo," Grimmjow told him. "I don't want him whining to me if you get all banged up. Besides, I'm pretty sure he told me to never touch you again after we had that little tousle."

That "little tousle" was several thrown punches at a bar just outside of the Seireitei.

"Alright," Shuuhei replied.

Grimmjow's face lit up with a wide grin. "Fantastic," he said with a growl.

Shuuhei wasn't unaware of the dangers. Being in a completely shielded room meant that Grimmjow could fully attack him instead of just spar. He's going to be a little surprised if he tries to actually kill me, Shuuhei thought.

"I'm not stupid," Grimmjow said, as if reading Shuuhei's thoughts. "I know that going all out would get me off my probation and sentenced to death. As fun as it would be, you're not worth death. Besides, Ichigo would get all sad when I brought him your dead body."

"It wouldn't be as easy as you obviously think," Shuuhei said, continuing to follow Grimmjow to Squad 11. "And he'd be more than sad. He'd kick your ass. Again."

Grimmjow ignored him.

The room was cavernous. It looked like it could fit a small building inside of it without any problems. There were odd devices around, all coated with rust...rust which on closer examination appeared to possibly be blood. Shuuhei had wondered how Kenpachi trained, since it wasn't like he could go all out against his own men and the other captains studiously avoided him.

Grimmjow stopped and faced him. "You ready?" he asked.

Shuuhei drew his weapon.

"I hope you're not planning on going after me with your zanpakuto in that state," Grimmjow said. "I want to see your shikai."

Shuuhei tensed. "No."

"Well then this is going to be very quick I guess," Grimmjow told him. He held out his weapon with his right hand, his left hand going to the blade.

"What are you doing?"

Grimmjow raked his hand along his zanpakuto. "Grind, Pantera!" he shouted.

Shuuhei crouched down as a wave of spiritual pressure burst out from the former espada.

Shit, that was...he's really strong, Shuuhei thought to himself. What did he expect though? The initial reports about the espada had all warned "captain level or higher". He was facing something bankai level now. So am I going to give in to him and show him my shikai or am I just going to let myself get royally thrashed without even putting up a fight?

As much as Grimmjow would love a fight with Shuuhei, that wasn't the point of his release. He was pretty sure he could beat the shinigami without having released at all.

Shuuhei looked up as his body adjusted to the increase of spiritual pressure that Grimmjow was giving off. His eyes widened. Grimmjow smiled and deliberately whipped his tail around for added effect.

Grimmjow's feet had become black paws, his hands black as well, his fingers now long claws. His ears were now long, his body covered in white armor. And of course he had that long tail.

Grimmjow...is a cat? Shuuhei wondered.

"You look a little surprised. I was a panther when I was an adhucja," Grimmjow said. He padded closer towards Shuuhei. Shuuhei was still stunned but raised his zanpakuto to defend himself. He didn't even see Grimmjow as he sonidoed closer. Grimmjow's arms were wrapped around him. He felt Grimmjow's tail wrap around his thigh.

This is not goo...Shuuhei's thoughts went blank as Grimmjow kissed him.

* * *

Later that evening Shuuhei was out of sorts so Ichigo gave him some space, leaving to go and hang out with Renji. Shuuhei laid on their couch staring at the ceiling.

I let him kiss me, Shuuhei thought. I didn't fight him, I didn't even push him off. I fucking didn't bite off his tongue when he shoved it down my throat. I PET HIS EAR. Shuuhei sighed. That wasn't that weird right? He just wanted to know if it was soft and fuzzy or hard like his armor. Of course HE WAS LETTING GRIMMJOW KISS HIM AT THE TIME.

Grimmjow had kissed him, laughed, and then took off, leaving a confused, slightly turned on, and guilty feeling Shuuhei behind him.

I'm not even that mad at him, Shuuhei realized. I'm mostly pissed off at me. It's in his nature to do crap like this, it's not in mine. And what do I tell Ichigo, "by the way, I kissed Grimmjow?" I mean, I didn't want to, but it's not like I was fighting against it or anything. If Ichigo told me he kissed Grimmjow, how would I react? How can I blame him if he gets as angry as I would?

Shuuhei put his hands over his eyes and wished he had brought that really good sake that Grimmjow had sent him home, because he could really use it right around now.


	4. Experiments

**Experiments**

_A/N: Drama chapter._

* * *

"Why hello there," came his deep voice. Shuuhei clenched his fist and looked up at the figure in the doorway with anger.

"What the hell do you want?" Shuuhei asked Grimmjow.

"Just coming by to see how you're doing," Grimmjow replied with a wide grin.

"I'm fine," Shuuhei said shortly. "Go away."

"And Ichigo? How is he?"

Shuuhei's eyes narrowed. "Also fine."

"He's not...upset?" Grimmjow said with a wicked smile. Shuuhei felt a sudden coldness in the room. Was Grimmjow trying to threaten him? Shuuhei hadn't talked to Ichigo yet, hadn't told him about kissing Grimmjow. He wasn't planning on keeping it a secret from Ichigo, but he hadn't really found the right way of telling him either. It had only been a few days. He had almost done it last night but Ichigo had gotten slightly tipsy from sake and had snuggled up so cutely next to Shuuhei on their futon that he hadn't had the heart to piss his lover off.

"Our relationship really shouldn't be any of your concern," Shuuhei said finally.

"Oh but it is," Grimmjow told him. "You could say that I think about it all the time. Not as often as I think about Ichigo of course, or as often as I imagine him naked and underneath me but..."

Shuuhei was on his feet. "You bastard!" he yelled, flying at the former espada, who was very ready for him.

Shuuhei felt his body lock up and fell to the floor awkwardly. Grimmjow was still standing but had his hands twisted behind his back by an invisible force. Shuuhei turned and saw his captain standing at the other side of the room, his hands still out. Neither Grimmjow nor Shuuhei had even heard the kido chant.

"Bad boys," Kisuke chided. Shuuhei sighed in relief as he heard the tone of his captain's voice was slightly playful. When his captain actually got mad it was pretty frightening.

Grimmjow was just laughing. "I must really be getting to you," he said. "Weren't you supposed to be the cool headed one?"

* * *

All three of them were sitting around a table drinking tea. Kisuke had insisted. Grimmjow hated tea (which reminded him of Aizen) and Shuuhei was alternately pissed off that he had to be near Grimmjow and panicking when he recalled that he had kissed him. It would be one thing if Grimmjow had just forced himself on Shuuhei, but Shuuhei had definitely reacted in a way that he shouldn't have.

Damn that stupid cat, Shuuhei thought, trying to not remember how soft Grimmjow's ears had been. I'm not sure how us having tea together is supposed to make us hate each other any less.

A hell butterfly fluttered into the room. All three looked at it with interest. It flew to Shuuhei, who put his finger out for it. His face paled.

"What's wrong?" his captain asked quickly. Grimmjow was watching him intently.

"From Captain Unohana...something's happened to Ichigo," Shuuhei said, already at the door. He paused. "Captain, can I..." Kisuke was already next to him, Grimmjow was following. Shuuhei took off.

"Why are we going in the wrong direction?" Kisuke asked.

"He's being held at Squad 12," Shuuhei replied tersely.

Kisuke's mouth formed into a harsh straight line.

"Held?" Grimmjow asked.

"He's not himself right now," Shuuhei said quietly.

"That fool. Mayuri, what did you do?" Kisuke muttered.

* * *

They had to go through no less than three barriers to get to the chamber where Ichigo was. Unohana was there as well, taking readings of some kind.

"Where is Kurotsuchi?" Kisuke asked darkly.

"It seems that he had taken off for Hueco Mundo," Unohana replied.

"For research, or has he really run away?" Kisuke queried.

"Both I imagine," Unohana said calmly. "He was missing several limbs at that point. Ichigo got out briefly and wasn't happy."

"Ichigo..." Kisuke said. "You probably shouldn't call him Ichigo."

"Oh, does his hollow have a name?"

"W-what..." Shuuhei was staring in disbelief at the figure in the cell.

"Change him back," Grimmjow said roughly. Unohana didn't answer so Grimmjow turned to Kisuke. "You fucking know how to deal with this type of shit. Bring Ichigo back."

"Oh, I didn't take over," Shiro said, his voice much harsher than Ichigo's. "Ichigo is just gone."

"Gone..." Shuuhei still couldn't get a grip on what was happening.

"Listen here you fucker," Grimmjow said, pounding on the kido wall that separated them. "You bring him back or..."

Shiro just laughed. "Oh? And what are you going to do? Kill me? His body?"

"Captain Unohana, Captain Urahara, please explain to me..." Shuuhei begged.

"According to his staff, Captain Kurotsuchi brought Ichigo in early this morning, unconscious. He proceeded to use a machine to force Ichigo's hollowfication. At that point all signs of Ichigo disappeared from the readings, which I've read from Kisuke's reports on the vizards is highly unusual," Captain Unohana explained.

"But he's still there right? This has happened before," Shuuhei said.

"Who knows?" Kisuke answered. "Who knows what Mayuri injected him with? It could be that the entire plan was to only get Shiro and not Ichigo. It could be that was the original plan and not just an accidental side effect."

"Perhaps you, as a hollow, can help him," Unohana said to Grimmjow.

"Let me in there," Grimmjow replied. Shiro was grinning at him through the field.

Shuuhei didn't want to have to rely on Grimmjow, but if it had a chance of helping he was all for it. His mind wasn't processing the idea that Ichigo might truly be gone. His body was standing right there in front of him. But it clearly wasn't him. The black and yellow eyes chilled Shuuhei to the bone and he had shuddered when Shiro had talked, hearing that voice coming from his Ichigo. However, he knew that Grimmjow would do anything to save him. Hadn't he already proved that?

"Ichigo," Shuuhei called out. Shiro ignored him. He went up the barrier, face to face with the hollow, staring into the dark eyes. "Ichigo," he said again.

Shiro smirked at him. "It ain't gonna help if no one is home," he said, his face wide with an almost impossible grin.

"You're the closest to him," Kisuke said. "Can you feel Ichigo at all?" he asked his lieutenant.

"No," Shuuhei didn't want to say it.

"Let...me...in...there," Grimmjow repeated, his fists clenching.

"Be careful, he's very dangerous," Unohana warned him.

"Oh yeah, like we haven't tried to kill each other before," Grimmjow chuckled darkly.

"We'll need to clear the room," Kisuke said.

"I don't want to leave him," Shuuhei disagreed.

"We'll watch on the monitors. But when we open the shield he could get to any of us," Unohana explained.

Shuuhei was reluctantly led away to a viewing room. The heavy doors closed behind them, the kido seal activating.

He's not really gone, is he? Shuuhei thought to himself. "Captain," he said out loud.

Kisuke turned towards him.

"Captain Kurotsuchi...he will be punished for this, right?" Shuuhei asked.

"Are you kidding? You know what I got kicked out for supposedly doing, right?" Kisuke replied.

"These types of experiments are highly illegal," Unohana said. "And if Ichigo Kurosaki can't be brought back it will be looked at as murder."

Murder...Ichigo...Shuuhei could feel the tightness in his chest threatening to overwhelm him.

They all turned their attention to the large monitors in front of them.

"Are you ready?" Unohana asked into a microphone.

"Yeah," Grimmjow breathed. He honestly had no idea what to do. He first impulse was to pound that damn smiling hollow into a crater in the ground, but Shiro had been right, it was Ichigo's body.

There was a slight shimmering at the kido wall was dispersed. Grimmjow blinked suddenly as he realized that Shiro had already moved. He gasped as he felt himself being slammed into the wall.

Grimmjow growled and began to shove the hollow away from him when he found that he wasn't being attacked. "What are you doing?" he asked Shiro, who was looking up at him curiously.

"You know, he feels it, but he's such a good little boy," Shiro said with a lopsided smile.

"What the fuck..." Grimmjow's question was cut off by Shiro's lips. Grimmjow struggled against the hollow, pushing his face away from his.

"Grimmjow," Shiro whispered into his ear, sounding far too like Ichigo now for Grimmjow's comfort. He laughed at Grimmjow's stiffening as his breath hit his ear. "One kiss from him surely wasn't enough, was it? We're primal creatures you and I. I know ya have to want him badly. Not just killing his mate and taking Ichigo for yourself has to be taking a toll on ya," Shiro said, his lips so close to Grimmjow's ears as to brush against them as he talked.

"Get away from me!" Grimmjow was pressing against Shiro, his hand on his zanpakuto ready to strike, but he still was frozen. Whether he just didn't want to hurt Ichigo when he obviously wasn't in control, or whether it was the effects of Ichigo's body against his, he didn't know.

Shiro placed a hand over his, a gesture preventing Grimmjow from drawing his weapon, although there was no force behind it. "I know I smell like him, don't I?" Shiro said. "I have his pheromones...I taste like him..." He pulled back and kissed Grimmjow again, passionately, hungrily. Grimmjow could feel himself shaking, his body coming alive, his mind beginning to catch fire. He dropped all pretenses and wrapped his arms around Shiro and kissed him back fervently. He could feel Shiro's hands, claw like, scratching at his back, pulling him as flush to his body as he could.

Grimmjow's eyes went wide and he shoved the hollow away from him violently. Shiro stumbled away but didn't fall, just looking at him with laughing eyes, his smile mocking.

"GIVE HIM BACK!" Grimmjow yelled at him.

"I wouldn't if I could, and trust me, I can't," Shiro said. "Do you really not want to play?"

Grimmjow didn't care at this point, he struck at the hollow, not holding back. Shiro dodged his attack but didn't strike him back. Grimmjow drew his zanpakuto, rage in his eyes.

"Don't attack him!" Shuuhei yelled into the room over the microphone. He had watched the entire scene with horror, dread building to a full fledged panic as Grimmjow had given in to Shiro's embraces. But he definitely wasn't going to just sit and watch Ichigo's body get shredded apart by the enraged former espada.

Grimmjow paused, forcing himself to take deep breaths. "Don't play with me, you parasite," Grimmjow said.

"Aw, is it not good enough for you?" Shiro asked.

"Not even close," Grimmjow growled. Honestly he was still on the verge of jumping the hollow and eagerly running his hands along those lean lines of Ichigo's body, lines he'd memorized but never gotten to touch. But he was already disgusted with himself for giving in once. The anger he was feeling towards himself was threatening to surge forward and attack this hollow that had dared to defile Ichigo's body with his presence.

"We could escape," Shiro said alluringly. "The two of us could do it."

Kisuke quickly looked over to Shuuhei in the observation room. "He wouldn't do it, would he?" he asked his lieutenant.

"No," Shuuhei said. He hadn't realized how much he really had gotten to know the former espada but he knew one thing, Grimmjow was beyond pissed off. "He's obsessed with Ichigo. If it were Ichigo asking him, he'd do it without a second thought. But he doesn't view that hollow as Ichigo. He views that hollow as something who's taken Ichigo from him."

Grimmjow bellowed growled his rage, rushing forward, his hands at Shiro's neck.

"Go ahead," Shiro smiled up at him. He wasn't fighting back, merely looking on as if he wasn't concerned in the slightest.

Grimmjow dropped him instantly backing away.

"It's your body too," Grimmjow said. "Don't you care?"

"I can take a lot more pain than Ichigo can. I'm not scared of death. Why not kill me? Hell, why not fuck me? Either way, _he's gone_."

"I think that's enough for now," Unohana's voice said over the loudspeaker. Grimmjow stepped to the other side of the room, keeping his back away from the grinning hollow. The kido shield went down, separating the room again.

"I'll be thinking about ya," Shiro said, leering at Grimmjow.

* * *

Grimmjow and Shuuhei sat quietly as Squad 12, under the direction of Captain Urahara and Captain Unohana did...whatever the hell it was they were doing. Machines beeped and weird creatures printed out reports, but no one talked to the two men. Ichigo's visage, or rather Shiro's, was on a big screen. The hollow hadn't done much, although he rarely didn't have an insane grin on his face.

Shuuhei hadn't said anything to Grimmjow about kissing Shiro, although it was clear that Grimmjow wanted him to. Shuuhei figured that Grimmjow was hoping for a fight, even a verbal one, to lose some of his steam. Shuuhei was too stunned and worried to even care though. Living death, I guess, Shuuhei said to himself when tried to figure out what he'd call what had happened to Ichigo.

"Do you think he's gone, or is he trapped in there?" Shuuhei finally asked quietly.

"What do you think is better?" Grimmjow replied. "If he's trapped forever, dying would have probably been better."

"Would you kill him if that were the case?" Shuuhei wondered out loud.

"I think so," Grimmjow said seriously.

"Could you really?"

Grimmjow sighed, recalling the feeling of Ichigo's body against his, the smell of his hair filling his nose, the taste of his skin, of his mouth.


	5. Temporary Alliance

**Temporary Alliance**

_A/N: Apropos of nothing: I have been slowly making a Sim 3 town completely full of Bleach characters. I find it vastly amusing to see them interacting with each other, since I've tried to give the characters the same traits and characteristics as their manga counterparts. For instance, Rukia and Renji had an engagement party (I haven't made a Byakuya character yet, or else Renji's personal preferences might have been at stake, plus I wanted babies since Sims 3 is cruel and doesn't let same sex pairs do anything other than adopt a random child). Yumichika shows up, but then instantly declares the party lame and leaves. Rangiku cranks up the music and dances for hours, and Gin started crawling around the basement and going through Rukia's computer. Ikkaku got amazingly drunk, took of all his clothes and jumped into the hot tub (naked) with Renji and Rukia, scarring Rukia for life as she ran away screaming. Ichigo spent the evening completely failing to keep Shiro's hands to himself, eventually letting himself be dragged off for some loving at home. I have never had a Sims pair have sex as much as those two do, I mean they'll go at it more than three times a day if I leave them alone. They're pretty active in other ways too. In fact, when I came back to see how they were doing after messing with some other sims, Ichigo had maxed out the martial art skill and for some reason had started a band with Shiro (Shiro on guitar and him on drums). Shiro had also convinced Ichigo to be a vampire, so the two of them spend their nights getting kicked out of vampire nightclubs for having public sex. Renji and Rukia had triplets (all girls), which leaves Rukia a little frazzled as she's trying to finish her second romance novel. For some reason Ikkaku stole one of Rukia's pregnancy books and has been reading it at home, I wonder if I should warn Yumichika that something is afoot?_

* * *

"Well pigs must be flying over a frozen hell this evening," Ikkaku said to the two people walking towards them.

It was a nice night and Captain Kyoraku had come over with some sake. Captain Zaraki and Ikkaku joined him in getting buzzed while Yumichika admired the stars coming out and tried to distract Yachiru by giving her a new crayon set. She was drawing directly onto the wood planks of the Squad 11 headquarters that they were parked in front of, but no one cared.

"Shut it, Ikkaku," Kenpachi said.

Ikkaku glanced over at his captain and then back to Grimmjow and Shuuhei. The two did look pretty grim.

"I'm not letting him out of my sight since he's the one getting all the updates," Grimmjow said.

"They kicked us out," Shuuhei added.

"Maybe it might helped if you explained a bit?" Shunsui pressed.

"That crazy bastard scientist who keeps trying to get me found himself a new toy," Grimmjow growled lowly.

"Captain Kurotsuchi did something to Ichigo," said Shuuhei.

"As in what?" Kenpachi asked darkly.

"As in...he's...well, we can't actually...find him..." Shuuhei got out.

"His body is there," Grimmjow told the others, "But it's only his hollow. The sensors and whatever can't find Ichigo's spiritual pressure anywhere, only the hollow's."

"And you haven't killed Kurotsuchi why?" Kenpachi asked. He wasn't great at spiritual pressure detection, but he would have sense a captain level fight going on.

"He ran away to Hueco Mundo," Shuuhei said.

"You can go there, right?" Kenpachi asked Grimmjow.

Grimmjow nodded. "Yeah, I can. Which is why I think Shuuhei doesn't mind me tagging along with him."

It was true. As annoying as Shuuhei found Grimmjow, if Grimmjow was going to Hueco Mundo to get Mayuri, he'd be going with him.

"So what's the hold up?" Kenpachi asked.

"Gesh Kenpachi," Shunsui groaned. "I'm just going to pretend I'm not hearing this, ok?" Maybe I'll just pretend that I was drunk enough that I didn't hear Kenpachi encouraging completely illegal behavior, he thought to himself.

"We're waiting on Captain Abarai," Shuuhei said. "He's talking with the Head Captain right now."

"Hm, Renji wouldn't mind me tagging along, would he? It's been awhile since I went to Hueco Mundo," Kenpachi considered. "Besides, you're not supposed to go any place without me, ya know," he said to Grimmjow.

"Whatever gets us there the quickest," Grimmjow replied.

"What's Kisuke say about all of this?" Shunsui asked Shuuhei.

"He and Captain Unohana are looking over the data and trying to figure out a way of bringing Ichigo back. It's been suggested that we look up the vizards and see if this has ever happened to any of them and whether or not they know a way to fix the situation," Shuuhei answered.

"Wanna drink?" Ikkaku offered some sake to the two.

"No thanks," Shuuhei declined.

"Naw," said Grimmjow. "In fact, I think maybe we'll hang out back at Squad 5."

Shuuhei nodded.

* * *

"He's sending a formal request for Captain Kurotsuchi to come back for questioning first," Renji told the two men waiting in his office.

"That's bullshit!" Grimmjow said.

"And if he refuses?" Shuuhei asked.

"Then Squad 5 will be going in after him," Renji said with an unpleasant smile.

"Captain Zaraki has offered his services," Shuuhei mentioned.

"Hm, yeah if we do go it'll be good to maybe have a lot of firepower," Renji replied. "Who knows what the hell Kurotsuchi's been up to in Hueco Mundo?"

"I can guide you," Grimmjow jumped in. "Kenpachi will already be there so me joining wouldn't be a breach of anything."

Renji frowned. "I don't know that they'll let you back there. Then again, it'll be easier to have you open the gargantua rather than Kisuke, since his machine takes time to calibrate."

"And me?" Shuuhei asked quietly. There was really no reason for him to go, other than he wanted to.

"I..." Renji looked at his friend. "If you can think of a way to vindicate it. You know the Head Captain isn't going to go for 'personal reasons' as a reason for me to have the lieutenant of an uninvolved squad come with."

"He's not uninvolved, his captain is head of working on fixing Ichigo," Grimmjow pointed out. "Maybe his captain could...uh...request some readings or something? Give a device to Shuuhei for...something?"

Shuuhei was looking at Grimmjow a little shocked. Not that he had come up with a plausible premise that he could probably work out with his captain, but that he had cared at all to come up with one.

"Thanks," he said to Grimmjow.

"Hey, revenge is revenge. We can have a contest to see who gets Kurotsuchi first," Grimmjow suggested.

"That would be me, as captain," Renji claimed.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Grimmjow replied.

"Captain Kurotsuchi has 24 hours to get back," Renji said. "I'll bring up Squad 11's involvement, and you being a guide, to Head Captain Yamamoto tomorrow."

Shuuhei knew he didn't have to let him, but he didn't say anything when Grimmjow followed him all the way home.

"You can crash on the couch," Shuuhei said. Grimmjow nodded. He hadn't talked to Kenpachi about it, but he didn't think it was going to be a problem. Besides, the one person that was a stickler for Grimmjow's probation was the person that had run off.

Shuuhei looked over at the empty spot next to him on the bed that night, feeling the type of d_éjà vu he never wanted to feel again._

Ichigo...Shuuhei thought. He settled into a uneasy dreamless sleep.

Grimmjow was focusing on exactly what he could do to the Squad 12 captain when he found him, and settled into an enticingly gory dream.

* * *

"Figure something else out," Grimmjow told Captain Unohana.

"He says he'll only talk to you," Kisuke said.

Grimmjow and Shuuhei had gone to the Squad 12 lab that Shiro was being held in when they had woken up.

Grimmjow growled slightly, clenching his hands into tight fists.

"Oh what, you're telling me you can't suck it up and deal with Shiro for a little while? Even if it might help get Ichigo back?" Shuuhei said with a raised eyebrow.

"Asshole," Grimmjow said.

"Pansy," Shuuhei replied.

Grimmjow's mouth opened in shock. Shuuhei had never been outright insulting to him before. His eyes hardened and he unconsciously gripped at his zanpakuto.

"Fine, you two can fight off your energies later, and Grimmjow can just admit that Shuuhei had goaded him into talking to Shiro. Ok?" Kisuke interjected.

"Fine," Grimmjow said through gritted teeth, sending an angry glance towards Shuuhei. Shuuhei wasn't looking at him though, he was looking at the monitors showing Shiro was a pained face. He almost wanted to rub it in Shuuhei's face that it was he, Grimmjow, that might be able to help Ichigo, but something held him back.

I know he was just trying to piss me off so I would get in there, Grimmjow thought to himself. I don't have to say it, I'm sure it's already eating him up that Shiro doesn't give a rat's ass about him.

Grimmjow allowed himself to be led down to the room that Shiro was being held in. He was happy to see that Shiro was now wearing spiritual depressing cuffs.

Shiro rushed at him when he entered, but Grimmjow easily dodged him.

"You seem to have slowed down," Grimmjow said with a grin.

"They fucking put poison through the vents and I woke up like this," Shiro replied, gnawing a little at the metallic bracelets with his teeth.

"Don't break any of Ichigo's teeth, fuckface," Grimmjow told the hollow angrily.

Shiro just smiled at him. "Well, since I can't capture you, we'll just have to play a game. You sit there," Shiro pointed at the chair. "And I'll sit on you."

"No," Grimmjow replied.

"I'll answer any questions you have. But otherwise...nothing," Shiro said with a shrug.

Grimmjow's eye twitched slightly. "Fine," he agreed, walking over to the chair and sitting.

Shiro seemed surprised that he had given in so easily, but didn't hesitate to climb onto Grimmjow's lap. He leaned sideways and rested his head on Grimmjow's shoulder.

"Put your arms around me," Shiro told Grimmjow.

"You didn't say that," Grimmjow replied.

Shiro growled lowly and Grimmjow grimaced and wrapped his arm around the hollow. "If you don't answer my questions, I'm thinking about disemboweling you," Grimmjow said.

"Ah, wouldn't Ichigo be upset to come back with all his innards everywhere though?"

"He's there still then? He can come back?" Grimmjow asked.

"Who knows?" Shiro said.

"You said you'd answer my questions."

"Can't answer questions that I don't know that answer too. I have an annoying conscience. Is that Ichigo? Who knows?"

"Tell me about your mother," Grimmjow began to recall the questions that Captain Urahara had given him. They were supposed to hopefully elicit an emotional response from the hollow, and maybe from Ichigo trapped inside. Assuming Ichigo was still there.

"I didn't have a mother," Shiro answered.

"Ichigo's mother," Grimmjow clarified.

"A stupid woman who got involved with something she couldn't handle for stupid reasons," Shiro said.

Grimmjow sighed and started on the next question.

* * *

It had been almost an hour and they were getting nowhere. Grimmjow looked at one of the cameras at the wall and nodded no.

"I have to agree," Shuuhei said inside. "It doesn't really look like we're getting anywhere with this."

"I'll be making a trip to the world of the living soon," Kisuke said. "I was hoping that we could solve this ourselves but I'm sure that the other vizards will help Ichigo if they can."

"Do you know where they are?" Captain Unohana asked.

"Not a clue. Unless they left a note at the last place," Kisuke answered. "I'll need help," he looked over to his lieutenant.

"I...was hoping to go with Captain Abarai to Hueco Mundo," Shuuhei said.

"This will likely be just as important as far as bringing Ichigo back," Kisuke replied.

Shuuhei closed his eyes for a second. Damn it. He probably should go and find the vizards, but...he'd been burying it, something he was good at, but he was furious. He didn't like when he got angry, he felt like he lost control. He was beyond mad at Captain Kurotsuchi and was very much looking forward to meeting the captain again.

But, isn't that a reason to not go? Shuuhei wondered.

"Damn it," Grimmjow's voice came over the speaker. "Stop squirming around!" he yelled to Shiro.

"Aw, aren't you enjoying it, at least a little?" Shiro replied. "I know a way of finding out!"

Grimmjow grabbed Shiro hands as they dove for his crotch. "Touch me and I will..."

"Kill me? You're going to have to come up with an threat that you can actually follow up on," Shiro said with a wild laugh.

"Can I go now?" He asked the camera.

"I'll let him out," Captain Unohana said, walking towards the door.

"Of course I'll go with you to the world of the living, Captain," Shuuhei said to Kisuke.

"Excellent!" Kisuke replied. He didn't want to have to order Shuuhei to accompany him.

"That really sucked," Grimmjow said, coming in after a couple of minutes. "Hey, what are you guys looking at?"

"Well, this appears to be the file that was opened when Ichigo was changed to Shiro," Kisuke said. "However, it is encrypted and I haven't been able to make sense of it yet."

Grimmjow looked at the pad of paper that Kisuke had been scribbling mathematical equations on. He looked to Shuuhei for explanation.

"Don't look at me, I hate math," Shuuhei said.

Grimmjow laughed at that. "I'm pretty sure only freaks love math."

"Hey!" Kisuke jumped in.

"What, are you trying to prove me right?" Grimmjow asked. He looked at the long box of text that was on the monitor closest to him. "Well, it's obviously using Spanish grammar," he said after a moment.

"Spanish?" Kisuke asked.

"Did I honestly come up with something before you?" Grimmjow said gleefully.

"Hm, I don't know that much Spanish," Kisuke admitted.

"Just pull up a dictionary, I'm not gonna explain it to ya," Grimmjow replied. "Besides, I just know it. Once you start throwing around words like gerund and imperfect subjunctive I lose myself."

"Can you at least just go through it and translate it to Japanese and then let me figure out the rest?" Kisuke said.

"It won't work. Direct translation is always tricky. Don't you need it specific to break whatever code this is?" Grimmjow answered.

"Guess you're staying in here with me today then!" Kisuke said happily.

Grimmjow looked horrified. "What, looking at this crap all day?"

"Why would he be using the language of Hueco Mundo?" Shuuhei asked quietly.

"Why indeed?" Kisuke wondered.

"Well, have fun, Grimmjow," Shuuhei said. "I'm going outside. In the sun. Not looking at math."

"Fuck you," Grimmjow groaned.


	6. Hueco Mundo

**Hueco Mundo**

* * *

"You come back with him or I'm going to beat your ass," Shuuhei told Grimmjow.

"Oh, promise?" Grimmjow grinned at him.

Shuuhei smacked him upside the head. "Don't make me strip you down and throw you to Shiro," he teased.

Renji and Kenpachi were looking at the pair with incredulous looks.

"They uh...are almost acting like friends," Renji finally said.

"Fucking weird," Kenpachi grunted.

"Ichi will be so happy!" Yachiru chirped.

"Yeah, assuming we get him back," Renji said.

"Like Ichigo would let such a stupid thing kill him," Yachiru dismissed the idea.

Kenpachi really hoped that she was right, but who knew with all of that weird shit that Kurotsuchi did?

* * *

"I don't see how you think it's going to be so easy to find him when we were never able to find Ichigo," Shuuhei said.

"And do you think the two are connected?" Kisuke asked.

"I...what? No, I just meant that the shielding...why, do you think that the two are connected?" Shuuhei asked back.

"Not sure. But you are right about the shielding. It blocks out spiritual pressure, which is why I gave them a device that detects chemicals. It'll be a lot more effective," Kisuke said. "I knew that Mayuri would sense if I put anything into his blood or his body, so instead I just added a rare chemical to his body makeup. They'll be able to trace him that way. I've done it before."

"You knew that something like this would happen then?"

"Of course not, but I like keeping track of him. It's kind of like how I keep track of you," Kisuke replied.

"Uh...so...you track me?" Shuuhei said nervously.

"Well, when Ichigo was gone I was a little worried about you going off to look for him in Hueco Mundo and not come back, so yeah, I placed trackers in you." Kisuke paused and then smiled widely. "Do you want to know how I did it?"

"Er, no, Captain," Shuuhei felt that it was way better not knowing. His skin was already feeling itchy with the idea of little microbes or nanos or virii or whatever the hell Kisuke had filled him with.

Kisuke frowned. "But it's really clever."

"How are we going to find the vizards?" Shuuhei changed the subject.

"You and I are going to go from town to town spilling out spiritual energy. We'll see if that gets anyone's attention."

"Yeah...hollows," Shuuhei pointed out.

"Nothing we can't handle."

* * *

"Kurotsuchi didn't respond," Renji told his gathered team, refusing to call Mayuri captain after what he had done to Ichigo. "We are to bring him back for questioning. If he doesn't come, or uses force at all, we are authorized to use whatever means necessary to protect ourselves and subdue him."

"What about his lieutenant? Isn't she with him?" Ikkaku asked.

"Yes...her relationship with her captain is different than usual, even if she disagreed with him she wouldn't be able to stop him in any way, so if you do see her, try to not engage her in combat," Renji said.

"Does she even fight?" Yumichika wondered out loud.

"Don't know, haven't seen her ever do it," Kenpachi considered.

"Kisuke has given us a detection device that Akon here will be using. Akon, once you detect your captain, you just have to point us in the right direction, there's no need for you to face him," Renji pointed out.

"Thank you," Akon said. It wasn't like he was overly fond of his captain, but he wasn't sure of whether he could attack him or not.

"Grimmjow, open up a gargantua for us," Renji ordered.

* * *

"That was a lot quicker than expected," Kisuke said, putting his fingers to the crown of his head in a mock salute to Shinji.

"Yeah well, what the hell do you want? To steal another vizard away?" Shinji said with irriration.

"Are you talking about Ichigo? He wanted to come...well...I mean not at first, but he learned to like it. In fact, he learned to love it," Kisuke said with a smile, looking over at Shuuhei.

"Who is that?" Shinji asked.

"Ichigo's long time boyfriend," Kisuke mentioned. "Oh, and my lieutenant."

"Poor bastard," Hiyori said. "How haven't you killed him yet. Oh, I'm talking about Kisuke. Then again, how haven't you killed Ichigo either? Annoying brat."

"We're here about Ichigo actually," Kisuke told the two vizards. "Captain Kurotsuchi did something to him and now we can't get him back. He's been in his hollow state permanently."

"You mean with his mask, or his actual hollow?" Shinji asked with concern.

"His hollow," Kisuke clarified.

Both the vizards' eyes widened.

"Well that's...unfortunate," Shinji said.

"How do we fix it?" Shuuhei finally spoke up.

"Let get into the warehouse and we can go over the details," Shinji offered.

"You guys sure love warehouses," Kisuke said with a shake of his head.

"What we love is not paying rent," Hiyori replied.

* * *

"Grimmjow, gimme some feedback," Renji said.

"This...is Szayel's old lab," Grimmjow replied. "And...I can feel Szayel in there."

"The 8th espada is still alive?" Renji wondered aloud.

Grimmjow shrugged. "He always said he was immortal. Or maybe he just had some DNA floating in a tube and Mayuri made himself a new one. I went to his lab before and he had a hella lot of clones and random shit around," he said.

"This door seems to be lined with seki seki," Akon told them.

"Annoying," Kenpachi said.

They all paused.

"GET OUT HERE YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Kenpachi yelled at the massive door.

"He's not going to hear you," Renji rolled his eyes.

"He probably has cameras up, it is the front door," Akon pointed out.

"Huh. GET OUT HERE YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Renji yelled.

Kenpachi laughed.

Grimmjow just sat down, staring at the door in consternation. "Well, what the hell are we going to do if he doesn't come out? And I don't see why he would come out unless he wanted to fight us, which I doubt."

"Shit," Ikkaku grumbled.

* * *

Shuuhei was speechless. He didn't really feel like a lieutenant right now, just a little boy. "Um..." he said, trying to get Kensei's attention.

"What?" the vizard asked.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you before..." Shuuhei said, trailing off.

"Hey, I know you," Kensei stated.

"You do?"

"You killed the bastard Kaname," Kensei finished.

"Oh...yeah. He was my former captain," Shuuhei explained.

"Even better. You know, the 9th used to be my squad."

"I know," Shuuhei said. "I...saw you when you were a captain."

"You seem pretty young to have been in the 13th court guard back then," Kensei said, looking over Shuuhei, his eyes lingering over Shuuhei's tattoos. "What are those for?"

"You," Shuuhei got out, feeling a little embarrassed by it.

"Eh?"

"You saved me when I was just a boy. I found out that it was right before you were...changed," Shuuhei said.

Kensei closed his eyes for a second, looking back in his memory. His thoughts and actions during those last few days had been seared into his mind, and he recalled the boy vividly. "That was you?"

"Yeah."

"Did ya...become a shinigami because of me?" Kensei asked.

"Ha ha," Shuuhei laughed awkwardly. "Um, yeah."

"And the tattoo too," Kensei said.

"Er, yes."

Kensei smiled. "Well, you have a crazy ass captain now, but at least the squad has a decent lieutenant..."

"...thanks," Shuuhei couldn't get over his slight hero worship of the man, and was desperately trying not to do something embarrassing like blush over the compliment.

"...not like when I was a captain, and had a crazy ass lieutenant," Kensei finished.

"HEY!" Mashiro yelled at him.

"Trying to fix your boyfriend, huh?" Kensei said, looking over to where Shinji and Kisuke were still talking.

"Tell me, if you lost yourself to your hollow, would you want to live?" Shuuhei asked seriously.

"I...I think I'd be ok with it eventually. But I'm closer to my hollow than a lot of people. Shinji would want to die, for instance. I guess it depends."

Shuuhei sighed.

"Don't give up hope. Even if we can't get Ichigo back, his hollow is still his essence, his soul. In time..."

"He doesn't love me," Shuuhei blurted out. "His hollow doesn't love me."

"Oh..." Kensei didn't know what to say to that. "Well, love doesn't really come easy for hollows. Well, not at all, but a vizard's hollow isn't a full hollow anyways."

"His hollow does love someone, just not me. He loves a former espada, an arrancar that saved him and has loved Ichigo for years," Shuuhei said quietly.

"Er...I ain't really good with this type of advice," Kensei admitted.

"I wasn't really planning on bringing it up, sorry," Shuuhei apologized.

Kensei looked at the kid and wondered what he could do to cheer him up. He recalled that he hadn't done such a great time last time...although maybe he had in the end since Shuuhei had become a shinigami in the end. Kensei wound up not having to do anything because Mashiro launched herself at Shuuhei, wrapping her arms around him and placing her head on his back, holding him in a hug.

Shuuhei stiffened from the random hug, but then relaxed, none of the three saying anything.

* * *

"I hate this place. I hate sand. I hate that it's never day time. I hate that we're not fighting. I hate the stupid hollow bugs and stupid hollow lizards and the stupid crystal trees," Yumichika complained.

"I like the lizards!" Yachiru claimed. "See!" she held up one in her hand.

"How long should we wait?" Kenpachi wondered.

"It's possible that explosions of some sort might help," Akon offered. "The seki seki rock can't go that far down into the sand, can it?"

"Did you bring explosives with you?" Renji asked.

"Well, yes, actually. I tend to carry them with me. However, it won't be enough."

"Oh, let's blow up the lizard!" Yachiru held out the tiny thing towards the Squad 12 member.

"Hey now, Yachiru, the lizard can't fight back," Kenpachi chided her.

Yachiru pouted briefly. "A tree then?"

"Yeah, go blow up a tree," Kenpachi said.

"My explosives aren't really meant for..." Akon began to speak.

Kenpachi glared at him.

"What tree?" Akon asked.

* * *

"They haven't returned yet?" Kisuke asked Unohana as they walked into Squad 12.

"No. They found Captain Kurotsuchi but he is in a bunker surround by seki seki rock and is refusing to come out," she relayed to them.

"Tell them that we've found out a way to bring Ichigo back...probably. We can work on getting Mayuri another day," Kisuke told her.

* * *

"Thank you for letting me do this," Shuuhei said to Kisuke.

"Shinji said that you learned to it pretty quickly, so I see no reason why it shouldn't be you."

"Do we need to set up anything to protect the area?" Shuuhei asked.

"No, when they usually do it, it's the other way around, it's the hollow getting freedom temporarily and that of course needs a lot of barriers. This will be Ichigo's spirit, so we will be fine. We will have the normal shields up, of course," Kisuke explained.

"What the hell do ya want?" Shiro asked Shuuhei as he entered the cell.

"Oh shut up," Shuuhei said, pushing Shiro into the chair in the middle of the room forcefully.

Shiro looked at him curiously.

"You are giving Ichigo back to me you bastard, even if I have to wring your neck to do it," Shuuhei threatened.

"Aw, tryin' to turn me on?" Shiro smiled up at him. His face went blank as Shuuhei placed his hands over his forehead.

"Is he ready?" Kisuke asked over the loud speaker from the observation room.

"Yes," Shuuhei said. Please, fight, Ichigo.

* * *

"Not my fault, don't blame me!" Shiro said, his hands up, standing sideways on a skyscraper in Ichigo's mind

"What the hell do you mean it's not your fault!" Ichigo yelled at him, clouds drifting by him in a disorientating way.

"I couldn't even talk to ya," Shiro claimed. "I didn't even know if ya were still around. I didn't try ta take over, I was forced out just like ya were forced in."

"Then...let me out," Ichigo said. "We don't need to fight then. I've only grown more powerful since we last fought."

"Ya, I know," Shiro sighed. He paused. "I did have a lot of fun with Grimmjow while ya were away though."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "Define 'fun'."

"Mmm, lots of kissing and groping..."

"YOU BASTARD!" Ichigo yelled at him.

"Che, don't get too worked up. It didn't get far. Grimmjow wanted ya, not me," Shiro said. "But, I did tell him that ya love him."

"I...I don't love him!"

"Oh yes ya do. Stop being so uptight about it," Shiro said with a shrug. "Who wants ta be with the same man all their life?"

"I DO!" Ichigo said.

"Ichigo..." he heard a voice, close to his ear, warm arms wrapped around him. "Ichigo, I love you. Come back to me."

"I'm here, Shuuhei," Ichigo said, opening his eyes.

Shuuhei looked back into those once again brown eyes, his own brimming with tears he was damned if he was going to let fall. "...Ichigo..."

"It's ok, I'm back," Ichigo said, leaning into Shuuhei's chest. "Uh...I don't suppose you could get these cuffs off of me, could you?"

Shuuhei laughed, clutching Ichigo to him tighter.


End file.
